One week after teammate Jorge Martin had won his and the team’s first MotoGP victory at the Styrian GP, Zarco continued Pramac’s purple spot in Austria on Friday morning and set a new lap record on the Red Bull Ring 0.798 seconds ahead of the field .
The paddock was shaken on Thursday when news broke that Yamaha had suspended Maverick Vinales for allegedly attempting to blow up the engine of his M1 at the Styrian GP at the Red Bull Ring last week.
This makes championship leader Fabio Quartararo the only works representative for the Yamaha team for the Austrian GP, but it didn’t turn out to be much of a distraction as the Frenchman jumped into second place early after the opening volley of flying laps. However, he was forced to deviate from the track in the final phase of FP1 at Turn 9 with a mechanical problem.
Alex Marquez set the early benchmark pace on his LCR Honda with 1: 24.185 minutes before Suzuki’s Joan Mir took the lead in 1: 23.997 minutes after finishing second at the Red Bull Ring race last weekend.
Moments later, Takaaki Nakagami’s second LCR Honda moved up to the top of the timesheet with 1: 23.810 minutes, just over 37 minutes left of the 45-minute session.
This was the benchmark until the last six minutes when Mir began to light up the timing screens on a fresh, plush slick. The Suzuki driver was the fastest of them all with 1: 23.625 minutes, while drivers like Alex Marquez, Alex Rins and Zarco introduced new tire time attacks late on.
Zarco had a minute of 1: 23.408 minutes to go, just under two minutes from time, to demote Mir to second place, while Rins had moved up to third behind his Suzuki teammate.
On his following lap, Zarco flashed the field to improve teammate Martin’s lap record in qualifying for the Styrian GP with 1: 22.827 minutes. Zarco would prevail to the checkered flag unchallenged, Mir and Rins followed him to complete the first three.
Nakagami was the top Honda rider in fourth place ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, who also had some technical problems in FP1 after having to give up the Styrian GP last week with an engine problem.
Quartararo finished sixth despite his problems, with Alex Marquez leading the first of the Ducati riders on the factory team, Francesco Bagnaia, in seventh, while Marc Marquez on the factory Honda and Martin completed the top 10.
Only a few riders opted for a time attack late in FP1, with the KTM duo Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder as well as Ducati’s Jack Miller occupying positions 15 to 17 in cautious sessions.
Valentino Rossi was the second best Yamaha rider on his Petronas SRT M1 in 14th place, while his teammate Cal Crutchlow – still representing the injured Franco Morbidelli – finished 20th and last.
Aprilia has decided not to replace Lorenzo Savadori after his broken ankle in a violent fall at the Styrian GP.